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Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and is published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
The presidential candidate of The Left (Lewica), Magdalena Biejat, has called for cuts in state funding to the Catholic church in Poland. Her party presented calculations showing that government ministries have transferred almost 10 billion zloty (€2.4 billion) to the church over the last eight years.
“It would have been possible to build 50,000 apartments for 10 billion zloty,” said Biejat on Monday in the Senate, where she serves as deputy speaker. “But they weren’t built. The money went to the clergy.”
Za 10 MILIARDÓW złotych można było wybudować 50 tysięcy mieszkań. Nie wybudowano. Pieniądze poszły do kleru.#lewica #biejat2025 #biejat #kościół pic.twitter.com/eK6MxPYGmc
— Magda Biejat (@MagdaBiejat) March 24, 2025
“The president must be a guardian of the constitution,” she added. “And the constitution speaks of the separation of church and state. But as we see in practice, that isn’t the case.”
Article 25 of Poland’s constitution declares that “public authorities shall be impartial in matters of personal conviction”, including religion, and that “the relationship between the state and churches…shall be based on the principle of respect for their autonomy and mutual independence”.
However, the same article also mentions that the relationship should be based on “the principle of cooperation for the individual and the common good”.
The Left notes that public debate around state funding for the church normally focuses on the so-called Church Fund, which provides subsidies for the health insurance contributions of clergy, for religious organisations’ charitable activities, and for the renovation of religious buildings.
Most elements of the current ruling coalition, which includes The Left, have previously declared support for abolishing that fund. But The Left notes that there has been no progress in this area since they came to power in December 2023 and it will now seek to push the issue forward.
However, The Left also points out that the Church Fund (which will receive around 275 million zloty from the state budget this year) accounts for only a fraction of all state subsidies for the church.
The speaker of parliament has ordered an audit of state funding for religious groups – "in particular the Catholic church" – under the last government
Citizens shouldn't be "obliged to finance religious communities with which they don't identify", he says https://t.co/yav1T0TJep
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) March 18, 2024
The Left’s figure of 10 billion in state spending on the church over the last eight years – during most of which time the national-conservative Law and Justice (PiS) party, which enjoys close relations with the church, was in power – comes from parliamentary requests for information from ministries.
The biggest outlay came from the education ministry, which spent 4.4 billion zloty, including on financing Catholic universities and Catholic catechism classes in public schools. It was followed by the interior ministry (1.9 billion zloty) and culture ministry (1.3 billion zloty).
The Left “wants to cut the drip connecting the state with the church”, Biejat told broadcaster RMF. She added that much of the money given to the church is spent “without public oversight”.
‼️💰 9 986 129 382 – to nie żart. Tyle pieniędzy przez ostatnie 8 lat ministerstwa wpłaciły na Kościół za rządów PiS.
🔴 Zamiast na skrajnie niedofinansowaną ochronę zdrowia, PiS wolał wpłacić 10 miliardów na kler.
🔴 Zamiast na zapewnienie obiadu w każdej szkole, by żadne… pic.twitter.com/R4ikfGUwiF
— Lewica (@__Lewica) March 24, 2025
Biejat also argued that “for years, the state has not been able to cope with the fact that the church is hiding criminals who commit paedophilia” and she pledged to “finally put an end to this”. The Catholic church in Poland has been hit by a series of child sex abuse scandals in recent years.
That issue – as well as the clergy’s support for an unpopular near-total ban on abortion – has caused a crisis for the church in recent years. However, a large majority of Poles (71% according to the 2021 last census) still identify as Catholics and the church continues to enjoy great influence.
The Left is the smallest member of the ruling coalition, holding only 21 of the government’s 242 seats in the Sejm, the more powerful lower house of parliament. Meanwhile, Biejat is averaging support of only around 2.5% in polls ahead of May’s presidential election, making her a rank outsider.
Her level of support has been diminished by the decision of Razem (Together), a small left-wing party that cut ties with The Left (Lewica) and the ruling coalition last year, to stand its own presidential candidate, Adrian Zandberg, who is also polling at around 2.5%.
Weekly rolling average of support in polls for the main candidates in Poland’s presidential election compiled by ewybory.eu
Notes from Poland is run by a small editorial team and published by an independent, non-profit foundation that is funded through donations from our readers. We cannot do what we do without your support.
Main image credit: Monika Szafrańska/Klub Lewicy (under public domain)
Daniel Tilles is editor-in-chief of Notes from Poland. He has written on Polish affairs for a wide range of publications, including Foreign Policy, POLITICO Europe, EUobserver and Dziennik Gazeta Prawna.
